Combined Fleet Admiral: Shinji Ikari
by VentXekart
Summary: After being abandoned by his father in his youth, Shinji Ikari ends up being adopted by his uncle. His uncle happens to be an Admiral leading the various ship-girls in the war against the Abyssal Fleet. Several years later, Shinji now follows the same path as his Uncle just in time for the beginning of the war against the angels.


**I'd like to give a big shout-out to Mercaba and Traitor of All Traitors whose works inspired me to write this. I've been wanting to write an _Evangelion_ -related story for a while now but what I had in mind when I was brainstorming were the equivalents of a couple of one-shot and/or multi-shot stories. That being said though, I did a have a couple of odd ideas for multi-chapter _Evangelion_ crossovers and one of them happened to be this one; A crossover with _Kantai Collection._ Now while I haven't played the original game (It unfortunately doesn't have any official English language support) I have watched the anime based off of it as well as the OVA for it with English subtitles so I think I have a fairly good grasp of what sort of story encompasses the franchise. That being said though I've also been doing a small amount of research of the game and I do plan on including characters seen in both the game, the OVA, and the anime. I'll also will try writing content in this story consistent (though not entirely exact) with some of the mechanics of the game as well.  
**

 **With all of that out of the way I'd like to place these two disclaimers:**

 ** _Evangelion_** **belongs to Gainax and Hideaki Anno** ** _._**

 ** _Kantai Collection_** **belongs to Kadokawa Games.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

* * *

Two individuals stood at a train station in the post-second impact city of Tokyo-3. One was a boy around three-years old wearing a yellow T-shirt, khaki shorts, sneakers, and a suitcase by his side. The other was a man, slightly gaunt in appearance, wearing a labcoat over dark clothing, rectangular glasses. The latter was the father, the former was the son.

"No Daddy, please don't leave me! I'll be a good boy!"

One was detached, the other was feeling abandoned.

"I'm not your father..."

Regardless, what would've happened next is that a father would abandon his son leaving him with relatives or a mentor who cares little for him.

"Is that all you have to say to him?"

However, a single voice changed that forever. The boy was startled by the new figure, the man swerved around with his face scrunched in spite.

"What are you doing here, old man?"

The newcomer was older than both of them, wearing naval dress whites, he had a few faded scars going across his aged face and a sharp silver goatee and faded brown eyes that looked at the man in disappointment as he stood with his cane in his left hand, mainly to support his gait considering the limp in his left leg. To his left and right he was flanked by two unusual female companions. The one on the left has waist-long black hair and fluorescent red eyes, the other has short brown hair that flared off to the sides while her eyes were bright green-blue. Both of them wore similar outfits consisting of Japanese-style shirts that exposed their respective midriff, metallic garterbelts which held their thigh-highs in place, the one with black hair had maroon-colored thigh-highs while the one with brown hair had red thigh-highs with white strips near the top, both of them wore metallic high-heeled ankle-high boots with the actual heels resembling the rudders of a ship or a boat, the brunette had small white gloves on her hands while the raven-haired women had shoulder-high black gauntlets. Finally, both of them wore mechanical hairbands, both of which had antennae on top with the brunette's having thinner, shorter ones while the ravenette had longer, thick ones. Both of them stayed quiet as their charge decided to speak;

"An old friend called me, I originally came to bring you my condolences but now I regret that decision, seeing as you're now abandoning your and Yui's son...Do you even feel guilty for what you're trying to do, Gendo?"

Gendo scowled as his hands scrunched into fists, how dare he mention his wife's name in vain and how dare he question his motives.

"That is none of your concern, don't you have a fleet to command?"

The girl with black hair glared at him and was about to step forward before her charge raised his hand to stop her.

"Ooyodo, Fubuki, Akagi, and...Kongou," He seemed to have a brief smirk of amusement at the mention of that name, "are more than capable of holding the fort while I'm gone. What is more important at the moment is the fact that my brother is about to make a mistake that he might regret."

As the conversation continued, Shinji looked to one of the two women beside the man who claimed to be his father's brother-or rather his Uncle, the one with black hair had her arms crossed and was glaring at his father while the brown-haired lady glanced at him, smiled and gave him a quick wink which caused the boy to break into a small blush.

"I don't need your protection nor your charity, Tendo." His father growled out in anger.

"I'm not offering either, I'm asking-No, I'm telling you not to do this not only for your son's sake but for your sake as well."

Gendo Ikari-formerly Rokubungi had a lot of patience having not only to sway his Sensei to his side but also being solely responsible for making sure the Human Instrumentality Project moved forward as planned by SEELE, making plans for the future battles with the angels, and also dealing with the physical loss of his wife. However, dealing with his older brother...one of the few members of his family left as well as a part of his past that he hoped to leave behind when he got into college was the breaking point.

"Well, if you care for the boy so much why don't you take him?!"

Tendo paused, closing his eyes as if he was deep in thought before continuing;

"Is that really your choice?"

Gendo clicked his tongue in disgust,

"If it will get you out of my sight, then yes!"

Tendo sighed,

"Very well then...Nagato, Mutsu..."

The black-haired ship girl nodded before taking the sole piece of luggage with Shinji's meager belongings as she watched the fool-the man who was related to her admiral by blood storm off leaving his son and the rest of them behind. She soon felt a spike of sadness and pity for the Admiral's nephew especially when he started crying out for him again. Thankfully, that is the point where Mutsu stepped in, knelt down and hugged the boy from behind as she attempted to soothe him until his cries tapered down into hiccups and sniffles.

"Mutsu, Nagato, when you're both ready...lets return to base."

Both women nodded, with Mutsu taking Shinji's right hand in her left, before she gestured for Nagato to join. For a moment Nagato hesitated for a moment before the boy's beautiful blue eyes looked into her own. She felt a swell of a familiar feeling in her heart, one that made her want to grab the cute little boy and hug the little daylights out of his cute face but she pushed it down, knowing what Mutsu did the last time she reacted in such a way towards a squirrel of all things. Instead, she took Shinji's smaller hand in her own and both ship girls walked forward holding Shinji's hands as they trailed behind their admiral.

* * *

The journey back to the joint naval base of Japan would be nearly two hours by jeep with Nagato being the driver of said car. She took a glance towards the rear-view mirror seeing the passengers in the backseat; Mutsu whom was sitting down contently while Shinji...well, the poor boy was all tuckered out and was sleeping peacefully in the back with his head leaning up against Mutsu's left side though the battleship didn't seem to mind at all. Admiral Rokubagi on the other hand was sitting peacefully with his hands resting on his cane, the result of an injury when a large group of Abyssals performed a surprise attack on their base.

It was hard to believe even after the devastation of second impact that the Abyssal Fleet survived. They appeared in 1985 as reports from around the world mainly in the Pacific Rim region came out of Unidentified Submerged Objects emerging and in several instances attacking civilian and military ships. Naturally, the three superpowers of the world; The Soviet Union, The United States of America, and the People's Republic of China accused each other of preemptive strikes against each other but as more information came through including testimonies from a handful of survivors of said attacks the stranger things got. The descriptions of the attackers ranged from seemingly ramshackle submarines that were in the shape of dangerous sea creatures to feminine humanoids whom appeared to be crudely cybernetically augmented yet armed to the teeth with naval weapons.

The first month of the following year, things took a turn for the worse when large fleets of the same beasts emerged from the Pacific Ocean en masse and began indiscriminately strafing civilian and military sea vessels before turning their way to waterlocked nations and states, destroying their navies and obliterating their coastal cities. In desperation, the various nations of the world began building up their naval capabilities and started doing routine patrols out at sea to push them back but resistance was seemingly futile as more emerged from the Arctic Ocean in 1987 followed by the Indian Ocean in 1988 and finally the Antarctic Ocean in 1989. It didn't help matters that the Soviet Union collapsed nearly two years later which hindered efforts to defend the coastlines and oceanic trade routes even further. By 1991, the newly named Abyssal Fleet occupied a good chunk of the world's ocean and was about to encompass the Atlantic if it were not for the emergence of a new and unlikely ally.

In Japan the first 'ship girls' emerged during an attack on Osaka, they were the spirits of the fallen combat vessels and the collective energy of their respective crews from WWII. Apparently they were summoned by the Japanese People's prayers for salvation from the Abyssals and from the depths of the ocean they heard the call to arms and surged forth to defend humanity. It was then that humanity and their new allies started to retake the sea as new ship girls emerged to help combat the new threat and a way to summon new ships was discovered by spiritualists and engineers in Japan. They spread the word of how to summon ship girls to neighboring countries in the Pacific and then more ship girls of varying nations came to fight alongside humanity under the command of a multinational joint force of naval admirals.

Fast-Forward to the year 1999, further incursion into the Atlantic had been halted by the ship girls of North America and Europe while in the Pacific the Japanese had made significant progress in retaking the sea of japan and surrounding areas. It wasn't until later that year during "Operation FS" that they managed to destroy one of the leaders of the Abyssal fleet and clear out their base in a stunning victory against the aquatic monstrosities.

However, on September 13th 2000 the massive cataclysmic event known as 'Second Impact' occurred which was a massive explosion that destroyed Antarctica in what official unclassified reports stated was caused by a meteorite hitting the region at the speed of light. The true _unofficial_ report that was only declassified to admirals of the joint naval forces five years later that the cause was an experiment gone wrong that caused the entity later referred to as the angel known as ADAM to awaken.

Two billion people in the southern hemisphere of the Earth were killed by the massive tsunamis caused by the blast while more would die as a result of worldwide coastal flooding, resource shortages, and refugee crises as well as the wars that followed afterwards. Things got worse in Japan after a nuclear bomb was detonated in what used to be Tokyo, Japan...killing half a million people. Nagato would've thanked the fact that she and her fellow shipgirls weren't being used to war against other countries if it weren't for the fact that meant the Abyssals were still alive and that none of the lives that were lost that faithful day could be brought back.

Speaking of the Abyssals, despite the fact that they took heavy casualties and lost all of their territory in the Arctic and Antarctic regions they were still able to terrorize humanity especially after the coastal floods cleared out many regions that were formerly inhabited by humanity and gave them new potential territories ripe for plunder.

Thankfully, ship girls like herself and Mutsu have continued to hold the line under the command of people like Tendo Rokubungi. Speaking of that...

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Nagato asked as he gave a hum of acknowledgement.

"Why did you take Shinji in? While he is your nephew I don't understand why you'd do that on the fly especially since...that man...was right in that you have an entire fleet to run."

Her admiral sighed, opening his eyes and looking towards the sunset, tapping his fingers against the top of his cane.

"He's family, Nagato. Simple as that. I may not know him that well but I do want to especially considering how I've missed the first four years of his life and I wasn't informed of his existence until an old friend contacted me."

"Fuyutsuki-san, right?" Mutsu asked while her Admiral nodded. They had both met two years ago, Fuyutsuki doing work as a doctor in Toyohashi while Tendo was a patient. Fuyutsuki asked if he was related to Gendo Rokubungi and Tendo gave him the honest answer that he was, which surprised him as Tendo was nothing like his older brother. True, they may share some similarities in regards to appearance but personality-wise they were totally different individuals. Gendo was cold, distant, commanding and merciless while Tendo was quiet, patient, down-to-earth yet compassionate. After the appointment they spoke further with each other during Fuyutsuki's off hours and they got along well, it was also when Tendo found out more about what his brother had done for the past several years away from the family including to his shock him being married and having a child, one whom Tendo was interested in meeting someday. However, their conversations were cut short because both had duties to attend to though Tendo asked for Fuyutsuki to keep an eye and ear out on his brother just in case anything happened. Tendo was one of the few people who genuinely cared about his brother despite how he cut off his ties to the rest of the Rokubungi family regardless of the anger and hatred that twisted him into the man he was today.

Two years later, he received a call from Fuyutsuki that Yui; Gendo's wife had died in an experiment gone wrong and was an emotional wreck. Originally he was there to meet with his brother and attempt to counsel him in his time of need but then he observed his brother getting ready to toss his own son away for reasons unknown to him. Needless to say, he was glad he got there in time to help his nephew. It was obvious that his mother's death as well as his father abandoning him would leave some emotional and mental scars on him but something deep in his heart told him that Shinji had potential for great things and with a little guidance he would be better off than he was than when his father abandoned him.

"You know, some of the girls are probably going to coddle him right off the bat, right?" Mutsu asked with a bit of amusement in her voice.

Tendo snorted in equal amusement; "It wouldn't surprise me if they do, Mutsu."

Mutsu giggled and Nagato smiled at that. Mutsu brushed part of his brown hair away from his face, giving him a quick inspection before another thought came to her mind.

"You know...he's probably going to be a looker when he's older too...when that happens...Fu-Fu-Fu!" She knew that things from this point on were going to be interesting.

* * *

Shinji Ikari awoke with a yawn and a flutter of his eyes, taking a look to the right he saw trees passing by him as the sunlight was fading from the sky as dusk had descended.

"Have a nice nap, Shin-chan?" A familiar feminine voice asked as took a glance to his left, seeing the familiar brown-haired ship girl who gave him a friendly smile. He gave a shy nod of his head, looking around he saw that night had fallen...wherever they were.

"Where are we?" He asked, as the jeep passed by trees on an aging yet still intact paved road, in the distance he could see what appeared to be a small town and group of buildings including oddly enough equipment one would find at a port. He remembered accompanying his mother and his father- No, he didn't want to think about them again. His mother was gone, probably dead while his father...he abandoned him and he still didn't know why. That being said, he was curious about these two onee-sans and the man who was his uncle.

"We're at a naval base, its where our admiral; your uncle works and lives with us shipgirls."

Shinji tilted his head as he processed that information before he nodded in understanding before his head turned to the sound of a metal gate shifting open. A man at the gate; a military policemen gave his Uncle a salute and was given a quick "at ease" in response. As the jeep pulled forward through the gate the MP returned to his post; a booth lined with a CCTV system, a desktop computer and out of Shinji's sight a loaded .357 Colt Revolver in a hidden in a holster under the desk.

The sound of voices caught his attention, Shinji looked to the side and saw a group of girls that were ten maybe even twenty-years old than him literally skating across the surface of the sea in front of the docks. All of them wore strange equipment with long-barreled turrets mounted on metallic rigs strapped to their sides, open torpedo tubes or even control towers and smoke stacks of various naval vessels worn on their backs, and odd-looking outfits ranging from modified serafuku he's seen a few older teenage girls wear, to variants of Hakama worn by shrine maidens, yukatas, modified tomesode, and the odd military uniform here and there. Though the one thing they all had in common is that they were armed sometimes heavily and their footwear was often shaped like the hull of boats that managed that had varying waterlines.

He saw a tall blonde-haired girl wearing black hair-band shaped like bunny-ears atop of her head that wore red and white stripped stockings, a sleeveless serafuku, a short skirt, detached gloves that went below her shoulders, and was holding a turret with short stubby legs and arms as well as what appeared to be...a face of some sort. Chasing her as she kept cheering out "You're too slow!" were four shorter girls, all wearing identical white serafuku with navy blue collars, cuffs, and skirts with small white stripes and an anchor emblem above their hearts, navy blue socks, and dark green trainers. Two of them had disheveled brown-hair with differing shades of color and two different styles; one in a ponytail while the other was curled inwards with a red hairpiece. Two of them had hats with the same anchor emblems on their serafuku, though one had long bleach-white hair and pale-colored eyes while the other had equally long purple hair and eyes.

On their left he heard another voice, this one belonging to a tall buxom blonde in a blue military uniform with a jacket ending in white frills that went to her wrists, just before her black gloves, and a blue sailor's hat shouting a welcome to them all while another girl in a similar outfit and shorter black hair waved as well.

Shinji for one was shy around strangers even before his the accident involving his mother but for whatever reason these women and girls with their strange attitudes, outfits, and weapons drew out the curious child from inside of him though he had a bit of hesitation in meeting some of them.

"First time seeing kanmusu, Shinji-Kun?"

He looked back up to the smiling brunette next to him.

"Yes, um...what is you name?" He asked shyly.

Mutsu playfully ruffled his hair, earning a short giggle from the boy.

"My name is Mutsu, Shinji-Kun and the girl in front of me is my onee-san Nagato. But for now you can just call us onee-san, alright Shinji-Kun?"

"H-Hai, Mutsu...Onee-San."

She couldn't help but ruffle his hair again. Despite having little experience with children Mutsu was starting to adore him, his shy demeanor, his politeness, and his smallness was so cute!

She leaned up to Nagato and saw that despite her stoic demeanor she had a faint blush on her face. A sign that she was trying to fight her inner Nagamon from kicking in and just pouncing the cute boy and hugging the daylights out of him much like the squirrel that made it into the baths one day...something that Mutsu teased her about a few hours later.

"We're here." The voice of their admiral stated as the jeep came to a stop.

Grabbing his cane, Tendo Rokubagi swung around, placed the tip of his cane on the ground and with a grunt of effort stood up and started making his way to his office, which while Nagato flanked his left side just in case.

Mutsu on the other hand offered her hand to Shinji and with a bit of shy reluctance took it. It would be the first step of many for today.

* * *

"Welcome back, Teitoku." Ooyodo said with a quick salute as she stood. She was the secretary ship for the fleet, tall but not as tall as Nagato, the bespectacled light cruiser had black hair that went down her back, and wore a green headband on the top of her head. she wore a white serafuku with a blue collar, a red tie, a long-sleeved baby-blue undershirt with long sleeves, a blue plated skirt with two white strips near the bottom, hip vents on both sides, and lace-trimmed thigh-high stockings and thigh-high heeled boots.

"What is our status, Ooyodo?" Tendo asked as he made his way to his desk. The light cruiser sat back down, and checked her console real quick before swiveling around in her desk chair.

"Nothing out of the ordinary yet though Tenryuu was wondering if-" She trailed off when she saw the dark-haired three-year old boy who upon meeting her eyesight squeaked and instinctively hid behind the legs of Nagato and Mutsu.

"Teitoku, why is there a child here?" Ooyodo asked, "I was not informed of any personnel on base with family or-" Tendo sighed to himself before interrupting,

"He's my nephew, Ooyodo."

"Pardon?" Ooyodo asked.

"He's my nephew; Ikari Shinji." The light cruiser raised an eyebrow before looking a the five-year old and back at Admiral Teitoku and then back to Shinji. The boy flinched and tried to make himself as unnoticeable to the light cruiser as he could. Slightly ashamed at her conduct towards the boy, she looked at her superior officer.

"My apologies, Teitoku. Shall I make arrangements for his quarters?"

Tendo nodded, "Make it so, Ooyodo."

"Aye, Teitoku." Ooyodo saluted before turning back to her console but not before taking a glance to Shinji and giving him a friendly nod to which he shyly returned back earning a small smile from the usually all-business Light Cruiser.

He then turned his gaze to his nephew.

"Shinji-Kun, I know you've gone through...much today. I've also missed out on five years of your life but I..." He sighed, "...I hope that you can forgive me for not being around whenever you've needed me."

Shinji blinked, allowing what his uncle has said to process before shaking his head.

"But Oji-san, my father never told me about you so how can I forgive you for not being around when I never knew about you in the first place?" It was an innocent yet surprisingly wise question from someone as young as him. Something that surprised everyone in the room.

"Well, Shinji-Kun your father and I...well, he had issues with the rest of the family and despite how much he's done I've tried to give him a benefit of doubt and I've tried my best to help steer him in the right direction. Unfortunately, after the events of the day it is obvious that I've failed. That being said, I will try my best to not to make the same mistake again with you...if you'll let me."

Shinji looked at him with a bit of uncertainty at first. He was just abandoned by his father and he lost his mother so he was slightly reluctant to place all of his trust and respect for a man- No, a relative whom he wasn't all to familiar with but...the other option was continued abandonment and being shipped off to somewhere else under someone else's guardianship. Besides, his uncle seemed to be a nice person, and the shipgirls who were under his command were also pretty friendly too. So why not give it a chance?

With a sigh, Shinji reached his hand up as far as he could to his Uncle who quietly nodded and took the smaller hand of his nephew into his own aging calloused hands. This would be the beginning of a new chapter in Shinji Ikari's life.

* * *

 _ **Four Years Later...**_

Seven-year old Shinji Ikari was probably one of the few non-shipgirl inhabitants on the Kanmusu Naval base besides the Admiral that most if not all of the Shipgirls were familiar with. He was soft-spoken and shy but his self-esteem and self-confidence had improved over the years after being raised on the Kanmusu Naval Base of the Combined Fleet Command's Japanese Branch. Many of the girls had different reactions when first meeting him, a majority of them accepted his presence of course but some of them would admit the younger boy had grown on them.

Nagato and Mutsu had more or less become surrogate mothers for him, with the latter openly adoring him and smothering him with love while the former gave him some displays of affection but secretly swooned over how adorable he was. Despite the former's good relationship with him, Nagato seemed to despise his father though she kept this between herself, Mutsu, and a couple of the carriers, cruisers, and battleships who more or less shared the same opinion.

Ooyodo had become an older sister and mathematics teacher to him and though she was a professional in her work ethic she would admit that she was fond of the boy and his presence.

Though they were the first three to meet him he would eventually slowly meet the other shipgirls and acclimate to their presence starting with the destroyers who had more or less had become playmates and surrogate siblings.

The Akatsuki sisters were the first destroyers to meet him and they immediately became friends with him in different degrees. Ikazuchi had boisterously yet affectionately adopted him as her younger brother much to the bemusement of her three sisters. Inazuma was shy of him at first but eventually managed to become more engaged with him as he interacted with her siblings. Akatsuki's childish mannerisms were probably what allowed the at-the-time three-year old Shinji Ikari to get along with her though she often demanded that he call her an elegant lady much like she did with everyone else. Hibiki at first intimidated the younger boy with her seemingly complete stoic demeanor though that all changed one day when she was found laying asleep against a tree with the younger boy's head on her lap.

Shimakaze enjoyed having someone who was equally energetic and somewhat as childish as she was to play with though it should be noted that she often tired the boy out the most which led to her being scolded by Mutsuki.

Speaking of Mutsuki, she was very friendly towards him and they enjoyed talking to one another though she was protective of him at times especially when some of the other shipgirls involved him in shenanigans that could have been harmful for the young lad.

Fubuki often enjoyed his presence especially when he watched her train and gave her encouragement and cheer from afar.

Yuudachi also enjoyed his presence when she was training although she did often tease the daylights out of the boy, often leading to events where the younger boy chased after the taller shipgirl laughing all the way.

Mochizuki could sometimes be seen with Shinji wrapped in her arms when she was in one of her various sleeping places.

Fumizuki was one of his regular playmates when he was younger and continued to be one to this day.

Yayoi kept to herself around him though she sometimes ruffled his hair when she passed by him.

Satsuki, ever the tomboy much like Yuudachi teased the living daylights out of him and ended up being chased by him laughing all the way. Though as the boy got older she sometimes ended up getting in tickle-fights with him.

Hatsuyuki liked teasing him though not to the extent Satsuki and Yuudachi did but she also liked wrapping her arms around him and cuddling with him at a kotatsu.

Ayanami often helped him around the base with various chores or smaller tasks and vice-versa. They were both respectful for each other, especially since both were hard workers that shared similar personalities.

Shikinami acted like a deadpan tsundere at times but Shinji seemed to break her out of that mood sometimes, which lead to much teasing from other shipgirls (especially her sister ships) later.

Shiratsuyu brought out the competitive streak in Shinji especially in terms of games and chores much to the amusement of everyone else.

Harusame was friendly around Shinji though she ended up being teased by him for her name which often lead to him being chased around for once and if caught being pinned to the ground and tickled by her.

Shigure often took it upon herself to escort the boy back to his dorm room when he heads to bed, though whether or not this was out of affection, a protective streak originating from her night battle-induced Post-Traumatic Stress, or combination both remained a mystery.

Murasame adored Shinji and not only enjoyed playing with him but also gave him a daily hug and a kiss on the cheek whenever she passes by him.

Samidare often enjoyed having him help her especially considering her clumsiness that thankfully Shinji didn't seem to hold against her.

Suzukaze tended be a bit rowdy whenever she played with him and teased him though much like with Samidare he didn't seemed to hold that against her. Though in regards to the teasing she often managed to outrun him whenever he chased after her.

Asashio acted like a somewhat strict older sister or senpai to him and also did her best in helping the boy improve his work ethic.

Ooshio was known to glomp the boy out of nowhere, hug him and then tickle the daylights out of him on a regular basis.

Michishio who is usually a grumpy and sometimes unsociable kanmusu seems to be cheer up significantly whenever he's around and because of that he's often been used as a way to bribe her to go to the docks whenever she's taken damage.

Though she never smiles or tends to be cold around him, Shiranui has cautiously made sure Shinji doesn't know anything about her bloodthirsty side when she's in battle. She'd rather not traumatize a child thank you very much. Shinji didn't seem to mind her cold and oddly deadpan personality though which she seemed to appreciate.

Kagerou often kept an eye on Shinji when he was around Shiranui but was surprised at how civil and patient she was being towards him. It had become something she had used to tease or sometimes even dote upon her sister.

Tokitsukaze was another one of Shinji's playmates, she often was seen with Shimakaze, Fumizuki, Murasame, and Suzukaze when they were playing.

Amatsukaze was often a caretaker for Shinji when nobody else was available and she enjoyed it when he and her sister Shimakaze played together.

Despite the destroyers adoration of him, both the light and heavy cruisers were next to warm up to Shinji as well.

Yuubari became the obligatory science teacher for him considering her experiences in engineering and other subjects. However, she was banned from some of her more dangerous demonstrations in regards to science including the fact she was forbidden from developing experimental equipment around him, especially after the so-called 'Quad-Cannon Incident' when Shinji was five-years old.

Kuma was equally affectionate towards Shinji as she was towards her sister Tama and had also adopted him as a younger brother. Tama had also done the same, so both she and Shinji often ended up getting hugged by Kuma after missions were over.

Ooi and Kitakami had adopted Shinji as a surrogate son of sorts, though Ooi did so because of some of her more secretive and (according to some of the other cruisers) allegedly lewd desires towards Kitakami. The rest is history both for Ooi and Kitakami's privacy as well as everyone else's sanity.

Tenryuu sometimes ended up babysitting him and the Akatsuki sisters in what has forever been referred to as 'Tenryuu's Kindergaten' and while she is brash a majority of the time and tried to tell stories that were meant to either frighten or impress the five of them she often ended up getting the mood spoiled by her sister Tatsuta. Despite her sister's shenanigans she was oddly motherly towards the five of them though she and her sister would agree that Shinji's father Gendo Ikari was someone they wanted to quote 'beat the living shit out of' in her own words.

Speaking of Tatsuta, while Shinji got along with her due to her seemingly demure personality he knew not to make her angry as he was unfortunate enough to see her sadistic side after she went to punish Yuubari for the aforementioned 'Quad-Cannon Incident.'

Sendai had wanted to take Shinji as an apprentice ninja but Shinji and her were both disappointed in that she'd only be able to train him once he was older per orders from his Uncle.

Jintsuu immediately took a liking to Shinji after meeting him and wasn't as timid as she was around strangers or other Kanmusu outside of her sisters thanks to her interactions with him.

Shinji was often one of the members of the audience when Naka as the 'Idol Of the Fleet' did her performances and it got to the point where he got a permanent back-stage pass from her.

Kako wasn't always around to see Shinji but when she was she was either asleep because of a previous battle or she was on a mission. Though when she was around, she teasingly asked if she could use him as a teddy bear which lead to him becoming blushing mess much to everyone's amusement...though he didn't exactly dislike obliging to her request.

Aoba did a brief biography on him after he arrived on the base but toned down her enthusiasm as the head of the local press for the base significantly after finding out about how his father abandoned him. Because of that, one of her secondary missions was relaying as much information about Gendo Ikari's work to Admiral Rokubagi whenever she managed to dig up any sort of news either from traditional media or online. While she was keeping Shinji out of the loop she thought it was with good reason because while she hasn't seen a lot about his father she has found plenty of information about his organization GEHIRN...or rather the successor to it; NERV.

Kinugasa tried to kidnap him with an exclamation of "I'm taking him home!" before being punished for doing so. She still tries to do it every once in a while but other than that she loved playing with him and talking to him.

Furutaka was a shipgirl that Shinji had a bit of a childhood crush as he thought her hair and heterochromia were both beautiful and interesting. It also helped that she was one of his usual caretakers and she not only liked playing with him but the young boy was smitten with her kind attitude. Though it was amusing how flustered Furutaka was after she found out about his crush and what to do about it. Needless to say Admiral Tendo, Ooyodo, Mutsu, and Nagato reassured her that it was just a childhood crush and that it would probably fade away with time. If not...well, they said they wouldn't be against her entering a relationship with Shinji in the future...once he's of legal age of course.

Tone and Chikuma were another set of caretakers for him if they were available with both having a protective streak towards him.

Takao, Atago, Choukai adored him and were the set of caretakers that not only saw to it to spoil him but also shower him in as much affection as possible. Though they were asked to tone it down a bit considering the fact they almost smothered him with love...literally.

Ashigara and her siblings Myoukou, Nachi, and Haguro were not only caretakers for him but were also his secondary teachers behind Ooyodo, they focused on other subjects including Geography, History, and Literature Courses whenever they weren't busy teacher the classes for new shipgirls. Needless to say he became their first non-shipgirl student and all four of them enjoyed teaching him because of how courteous and polite he was in their lessons. Though he wisely learned never to bring up her relationship status regardless of whether he was in her presence or not.

Kumano adored Shinji especially when he helped cook on base, in fact she requested to have him be her personal chef only to have that request denied by her admiral. That didn't stop her from trying to be the first one to claim his meals.

Shizuya also adored Shinji though she had a bad tendency to be shockingly flirtatious with him despite their differing ages. Though thankfully after a private conversation with Nagato, Mutsu, and Admiral it was revealed that thankfully she wasn't actually coming onto the boy but instead she enjoyed seeing his flustered reactions which she thought were not only hilarious but also incredibly adorable...which was a sentiment that many of the other shipgirls shared with her. Though she was encouraged to tone it down a little, mainly for the boy's sake.

Mogami despite being a surrogate older sister to Shinji like many of the other shipgirls, she tended to act more or less like an older brother due to her tomboyish personality. Though when they first met Shinji asked Mutsu if Mogami was really a boy which led to her being extremely embarrassed afterwards which was something some other shipgirls never let her live down.

Mikuma on the other hand actually acted like a surrogate older sister and actually doted on both Mogami and Shinji whenever they were around.

The last to accept him were the remaining battleships as well as the carriers who despite having differing personalities (including some more eccentric ones in the case of the Kongou sisters) were more than aware of his father and his actions. Needless to say all of them had an axe to grind against him.

The Kongou sisters were slow to accept Shinji at first, as Kongou originally had thought that he was the result of a relationship between Tendo Rokubungi (whom she was smitten of) and an outsider which strained their first meeting quite a bit especially when she started giving Tendo the cold shoulder for a few days. It wasn't until Aoba's short biography about him in the base' local newspaper came out that they simmered down and offered sincere apologies that things began to improve. Needless to say, Kongou had taken upon the title of his Aunt especially since she was out for Tendo's heart much to his bemusement and the other three sisters did so as well. They enjoyed inviting him to their daily tea parties and his presence for different reasons. Kongou was the fun aunt who not only spoiled him silly but also showered him with affection, Kirishima was not only an aunt but also a tutor for him when he was having trouble with homework, Haruna adored him and took it upon herself to take him outside of the base to show him the various locales whenever they weren't busy, while finally Hiei enjoyed hugging him when either Haruna and Kirishima...or both were occupied by Kongou's affection.

Yamato was another shipgirl that Shinji had a crush on and oddly enough the feeling was mutual for the batttleship since she absolutely adored him. Since she was only deployed for special missions such as with "Operation FS" nearly seventeen years ago and was bound to the base a majority of the time she became one of the first choices of a caretaker for Shinji and possibly one of his favorites. It wasn't uncommon to see the two of them on a walk through the base and nearby areas. Once again though she was told that she wasn't allowed to make any moves until he was of age which she agreed to. She's had to wait weeks to even multiple months before being deployed for special missions so she was extremely patient.

Ryuujou was known to tease the younger boy though he learned to never tease her for having a flat chest especially after receiving a very powerful noogie and several rounds of tickling to his vulnerable ribs.

Akagi enjoyed Shinji's presence though he often had to slap her hands when the gluttonous carrier tried to mooch off him much to her displeasure. Then again, he managed to make it up to her with his cooking which often had her asking for seconds, thirds, fourths, and more.

Kaga's relationship was a bit more complex when they first met. Kaga was usually stoic and a no-nonsense carrier compared to her sister Akagi and was also under the belief that a child such as Shinji shouldn't be on a military base where the risk of being attacked was high. However, she started slowly warming up to him when he offered free lunches to her and Akagi when they were at the dock. She didn't adore him like many shipgirls did but she did seem to have some semblance of compassion towards him and the patience of a saint around him. She also possessed a deep hatred for Gendo Ikari when she found out about how he abandoned his own son after the death of his wife and Shnji's mother Yui Ikari so much so that she thought he was a disgrace to his wife and a heartless monster.

Zuikaku and Shoukaku were adoptive older sisters that watched over him occasionally and his presence seemed to calm Zuikaku significantly whenever she was around Kaga considering their rivalry.

Houshou being the 'mother of all carriers' and having an equally motherly and caring personality that matched her namesake she had much like a handful of the shipgirls taken Shinji under her wing as a surrogate son much like several of the older shipgirls. He was also one of the few people under the age limit that was allowed in her Ikazaya though she made sure to keep him out of anything alcoholic due to his age.

Junyou tended to cut down on the alcohol when around Shinji, mainly to discourage him from picking up the habit but also because she seemed to have a sisterly attachment to him.

Shouhou and Shinji got along very well especially since both were equally well-mannered.

Souryuu and Hiryuu were another set of surrogate older sisters to him, especially in the case of Hiryuu who seemed to enjoy hugging and cuddling with him.

Akashi was Shinji's other science teacher but unlike Yuubari tried to keep things safe and sane rather than try anything that was remotely dangerous around him.

Mamiya was someone who taught Shinji how to cook and also helped him improve him upon his culinary knowledge and skills. She was often delighted whenever he improved his culinary skills and was not surprised to see how many of the girls fawned over his cooking.

Chitose and Chiyoda were surrogate caretakers and older sisters to Shinji, though Chitose has cut down on her consumption of alcohol around him and has also done her best to make sure Chiyoda doesn't rub him the wrong way with her sister complex.

While the various shipgirls were a part of Shinji's life when he first arrived and today in 2008 there most important person to him was Fleet Admiral Tendo Rokubungi; his uncle. Affectionately referred to as 'Tendo Oji-San' by Shinji, the admiral of the fleet did his best to balance his work as admiral of the fleet and the time he spends with his nephew. At first things were awkward at first, since Shinji was fairly soft-spoken and shy around people even before his parents abandoned him but over time they earned each other's trust and respect for one another. One thing that Tendo noted as Shinji was growing up was his interest and curiosity in regards to the work he was doing as fleet admiral. Was he interested in becoming an admiral as well someday? Tendo wasn't sure if it was just a phase in Shinji's childhood where he imagined what he wanted to be when he was older, whether he viewed him as a role model, or if it was something he legitimately wanted to do for a career but he'd probably find out at some point. Little did he know that he would find out sooner rather than later, more specifically a month after his seventh birthday when a familiar foe came crashing down on the base...

* * *

Shinji scrambled out of his bed when he heard a loud boom like that of a cannon near his window. Adrenaline still pumping in his veins, he peered up under the scattered covers of his bunk near the window to see a group of aircraft with flattened skull-shaped bodies and guns mounted underneath them. They opened fire with a loud staccato of bangs as another explosion rumbled the base.

"OJI-SAN!" He yelled out of fear as he barely managed to scramble to the front of the bunk bed frame. The door suddenly flung open, startling him only for him to be relieved by the sight of Hiei.

"Shinji-kun!" She was about to grab his hand but turned her head to the left to hear a sharp audible whistle coming from above.

"GET DOWN!" Without hesitation she grabbed the boy who squeaked in her arms before an explosion burst through the window, the shockwave flinging them out of the room.

Thankfully, she managed to shield the boy from the blast, the turrets in her rigging splayed in different directions while Shinji himself was curled up into a ball and forced into her chest. He only barely managed to crane his head from in between her breasts to face her.

"You okay, Shinji-kun?"

The boy nodded unsteadily as Hiei stood up, the fast battleship still craddling the boy in her arms while her turrets pointed forward.

"Alright, lets get you somewhere safe. Hang on tight!"

He nodded again, burying his head into her left shoulder as she took off into a sprint out of the room and into the hallway, disregarding the weight of her precious cargo in her arms and the rigging on her back. She nearing the end of the hallway, she took a sharp left, and kicked a wooden door down before entering the stairwell for the dormitory. She took off down the first set of stairs before taking a sharp turn right and going down the next. This was a process she repeated four more times before reaching the basement floor. Again, she kicked another door down before looking cautiously entering the basement.

Peering to the left and right, she crept into the room holding Shinji in her arms. She made light quiet steps, the turrets of her rigging pointed forward just in case she had to blast an intruder away. Suddenly, she heard a rattle of items from behind her followed the patter of footsteps and childish giggling. _'PT Imps...'_

"W-What was that?" Shinji whimpered. Hiei pulled him closer as she stroked his back to reassured him. She pointed her turrets forward and had her turrets preemptively load rounds. Though they were small and fairly weak, PT Imps were known to be agile enough to dodge fire from shipgirls on both the land and on sea. They also had a tendency to fight in packs of three or more with the support of an artillery imp which made them a nuisance for any shipgirls that draw their ire.

As a battleship, she could easily put them down but in the basement which was full of areas with confined spaces and/or even choke-points she and the boy in her arms could be in trouble, especially if a larger pack was somewhere around the area. Cautiously, she proceeded forward keeping an eye out for nooks and crannies where the imps could jump out and ambush them. The damn things were the equivalent of Velociraptors from that one American dinosaur movie she watched with her sisters at one point. She heard hushed giggling and came to a halt, trying to use her sonar and ears to try and find them. It wasn't until the first ping of her sonar did she find them and that spurred them into action. She managed to jolt forward and spin around in time to see a trio of PT Imps, two of which had been hidden behind her while a second one had tried to pounce on her from above her previous position.

Quickly ordering Shinji to cover his ears, she aimed forward and fired a round destroyed two of them and sent the last one spiraling backwards after which it was buried by debris from the collapsed ceiling and walls.

She cursed to herself, hoping it was the last of them before a ping of her radar picked up a large number of them coming from the corridor to her right, she immediately turned around, shielded Shinji and fired another round, this causing concrete and other debris to bury the remains of a handful of the monstrosities before several more jumped and crawled over it.

She prepared to fire again only for one of them to pounce on her and latch onto one of her turrets only to be obliterated by a blast from it. Another jumped towards her but she managed to backhand it into another direction before destroying it with another round. As she was twisting around to face the rest of the pack, several of them pounced on her, knocking her off balance and dropping Shinji from her arms. Shinji shook the dizziness out of his head to see that Hiei was being dog-piled by PT Imps who were biting, scratching, and doing whatever they could to damage her. She managed to take a good number of the ones on her out with another blast but the rest of them clung to her. She screamed out as she tried to fight them off as Shinji was paralyzed by fear. He didn't know what to do. If he ran and hid there was no guarantee that Hiei Oba-San would make it out alive. He couldn't go back upstairs or outside to help because it was a literal warzone out there. He panicked, looking around to find anything that he could find to help Hiei. There wasn't anything except-

He saw something, a metal pipe that while heavy and unwieldy in his hands felt like...a weapon. He heard another scream from Hiei again and inside he felt an unfamiliar feeling boil inside his stomach, throat, and head one that made his hands tighten around the pipe, his face tighten into a scowl, and his jaw tighten, making his teeth grind against one another. It was an emotion while familiar with had never actually felt before, an emotion that soon took over his very being as he looked at the monsters hurting his Hiei-Oba. For the first time in his life; Shinji Ikari felt anger and now he knew what he had to do.

* * *

Hiei was heavily damaged with the pain being made worse by the PT Imps trying to hurt her, most of her uniform was torn, two of her turrets were unusable and she had fresh scratches, bruises, and bite marks on her limbs as she tried to wrestle them off her. She thought she was going to die, no she knew that her death would be inevitable at this point. Despite the fact she knew she was going down fighting, she couldn't help but think of the faces of her sisters, her friends, her admiral, and Shinji-Kun...whom she hoped had managed to escape while he still could.

Suddenly though, she heard one of the PT Imps screech in pain as the howl of a very young, very familiar voice met her ears. She saw one of the PT Imps sprawled and startled on the floor suddenly get bashed with a pipe as its foul oil-like ichor splattered on the floor, craning her eyes to see- SHINJI?! The admiral's nephew and the adoptive sibling/nephew/son of the fleet was fighting the PT Imp, hitting the top of its head with all of the might his seven-year old body could and from the crackle of bone and the bang of tortured metal she knew that PT Imp despite it being slightly larger than the boy was dead.

He turned towards another Imp, this one having latched onto her thigh with its shark-like teeth biting into it before he pulled the pipe back and gave a well-executed swing to its mouth, shattering its mechanical teeth and splattering more of its oil-like blood everywhere as it landed in a dazed heap on its back.

Suddenly, two of the imps atop her had stopped to seek out the new threat only for them to witness Shinji to whack its chest multiple times as their comrade gave a cry of "Iiig!" in pain before it finally fell limp with black fluid pooling beneath it.

The two imps charged towards him, and he turned to faced them. Hiei saw that the sweet, shy, meek, and modest boy that most of the shipgirls on this base cherished as one of their own had an uncharacteristic scowl of anger. This wasn't the playful anger that he gave when one of the shipgirls teased him, no this was full-on righteous rage.

She saw one of them get whacked upside the head, and roll onto its belly, spitting out chunks of metal and its black life-fluid out as the last one cautiously crept towards him before jumping on him as the boy used the pipe to shield himself from its bites but not the punches and scratches from its hands. With whatever remaining energy she had left as well as the need to protect her adoptive nephew she gave a battlecry of her own as she tore the last three remaining imps off her, tossing one to the side and blasting it with one of her remaining turrets, throwing one of them to the ground and giving a brutal stomp to its skull before tossing the last one to the side. She charged towards the injured one that Shinji bashed on the head and give it a sharp kick sending it backwards, damaging it further but not killing it before she grabbed the imp pinned to Shinji from behind tossing it behind the both of them and blasting it with one more shot to end it. She turned around to see the last imp get its face caved in as Shinji bashed its head over and over again before his hits finally slowed down and he dropped the metal pipe on top of it with a limp toss of his hands.

He turned around to face Hiei Oba-san, he had a black eye, scratches along his face and arms, and he had a few bruises on his knuckles; self-defense wounds that he probably got from punching the PT Imp. His clothes were covered with the black blood of the abyssal PT Imps and he fell on his knees tired and about to fall backwards if it weren't for Hiei grabbing his limp form from behind.

"Hiei Oba-san...are you?"

She shushed him as she inspected him for further injuries.

"Hush, Shinji-Kun...you...did good today...just rest...rest..."

He exhaled, relaxing in her lap as just in time they both heard the faint voices of other shipgirls and JSSDF troops in the distance.

* * *

Tendo Rokubungi watched his nephew as Akashi and a medic from the JSSDF finished tending to his wounds. Both of them giving the similar if not the same prognosis; Despite having had fought and killed several PT Imps, it was miraculous that he got out of the fight with only a bunch of scratches, a black eye, and some bruised knuckles. He had heard about what happened when Hiei escorted by several soldiers of the JSSDF and the undamaged shipgirls gave him a brief report about what happened. At first he didn't believe that his seven-year old nephew managed to fight and kill several PT Imps with a metal pipe but after finding their remains he was astonished.

That being said though, he still needed to talk to Shinji about this. He sat down in a chair next to Shinji's bed, the young boy giving him a guilty-looking frown.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked. It was a surprising albeit not unexpected question from the young boy. Tendo gave a deep sigh before turning to his nephew.

"No, but you scared me none the less."

Shinji's eyes widened for a moment before reverting back to his original frown.

"B-But you're admiral of the fleet! You're not supposed to be scared of anything, not even the abyssals!"

Tendo shook his head.

"Anyone and everyone is scared of something Shinji-kun. It's what we do when we are scared and the choices we make that matter the most. You can choose to be afraid and run away or you can face your fear despite how scared you are. Today, you were scared of the Abyssals attacking Hiei and you chose to fight rather than run away."

Tendo sighed again.

"I am astonished that you managed to fight off and kill those PT Imps, do you realize that they would've killed you regardless of your age?"

Shinji winced at that but he turned around with a few tears streaming down his eyes as he stuttered.

"I-I only wanted to help Hiei-Oba, I was scared that they would-" He gulped, "Kill her..."

"I appreciate your honesty, Shinji-Kun. I was afraid that the abyssals would kill you or worse...but I was wrong. What you did today was very impulsive and not-to-mention very dangerous but...the fact that you did so to save someone's life despite being afraid is both admirable and brave."

It was heart-warming for Tendo to see the small smile on his nephew's face, he ruffled the boys hair once before standing up.

"Get some rest, your injuries will take time to heal." Tendo said as he stood up "And...try not to get into more trouble while you're doing so.

Tendo added with a small smile on his face.

Shinji nodded as Tendo started to make his way out of the clinic before he heard Shinji call him again.

"Yes, Shinji-Kun?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Scrunching his eyes closed with a determined look on his face, he decided to say one thing;

"Tendo Oji-san...I-I want to be an admiral!"

It was a single determined phrase that would change his life forever...

* * *

 **And there we go!**

 **I'd like to apologize for ending the prologue so abruptly but I thought it would be fitting for the Timeskip for the beginning of next chapter. Speaking of next chapter I can't guarantee that'll come out anytime soon but there are a couple reasons as to why. First off, another semester of Community College has started on my end** **so I'm going to have coursework to deal with over the Fall. The second reason is** **I want to try and finish _'Strike Witches: Wake One, Wake Them All!'_ so I'm not trying to scramble to update three or more multi-chapter stories. Reason number three is that unlike _'Strike Witches: Wake One, Wake Them All!'_** **which I've pretty much had planned out from beginning to end or _Ships To War: The Exiles_ where I _'_ m basing part of the story on my ongoing playthrough of _Homeworld: Remastered_** **there is still a lot of this story that I haven't had planned out yet including how the story will differ from the canon of _Neon Genesis Evangelion._ I'm also brainstorming a lot of elements to this story such as how Shinji's command of a fleet as well as the battles against the abyssals they participate in will affect the story as well as the views, opinions, thoughts, etc of the main cast of NGE. Finally, there is also the fact that I'm still trying to figure out how to portray a number of aspects/mechanics of _Kantai Collection_ in ****NGE universe. So yeah, there is a lot of things in this story that I'm currently uncertain about that I still need to hash out.**

 **However, there are a number of things in this story I am certain about;**

 **-First off, Third Impact will be averted.  
**

 **-Secondly in regards to Shinji's love life he will have a harem of shipgirls. This is due to the fact that players can marry their shipgirls (I say shipgirls in plural because the game mechanics allow players to marry multiple shipgirls. Though I'm not exactly sure if there is a limit to how many shipgirls players can marry in-game (If anyone knows please post about it in the reviews!) Two potential candidates for his harem can be identified in this prologue but I can't make any guarantees as to whether or not they will make it or not as once again; I'm still planning this story out. Other shipgirls I have considered for his harem include; Yamakaze, Minazuki, Teruzuki, Amagiri, Sagiri, Akitsu Maru, Mizuho, Commandant Teste, Hayasui, Yahagi, Natori, Pola, Roma, Iowa, Musashi, Katsuragi, Gambier Bay, Ark Royal, Zuihou, Shinyou, Gotland, I-8 "Hachi", I-13 "Hitomi", and I-14 "Iyo".  
**

 **-Finally, taking into consideration that three of the four starter shipgirls of the _Kantai Collection_ game have appeared in the anime as main characters, side characters, and/or background characters by default the starter shipgirls of Shinji's fleet (and the first member of his harem) will be Murakumo.**

 **It's probably going to take a while for me to plan things out for this story but I'm hoping once I get SWWOWTA done I'll have a better idea where I want to go with this story. Until then though, I hope you've enjoyed the beginning of this story so far.**

 **Cheers,**

 **-VentXekart.**


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